Take a step outside of your comfort zone, and try to solve a problem that has been on your mind. That's what her horoscope had said. Foxbane had been sort of out on her own in recent times. Between her litter with Riverwolf being promoted, and now her new litter with Funk E'tan, and well, her self imposed isolation, the former Priestess had largely kept herself from interacting, except for a few times, such as her little 'get together', congratulating Burningstar on passing initiation, and immediately moving to help Littlestar when she'd been seizing on the solstice.

She took a deep breath as she got up from her nest in the nursery, her pelt hanging limply off her frame. Foxbane hadn't been eating properly, and was significantly thinner than she ought to be, even for winter. All the same, she forced herself to clean up her pelt, to go out, eat a reasonably sized meal, and actually do the paint she'd been neglecting. It was simply, just the eye on the right of her shoulder, and a few swirls and lines, down her back and curling around from the left side of her eye across her cheek. It looked much like snow stirred up in a blizzard. A far cry from the magnificence of her fur as High Priestess, but it was beautiful in it's simple chaos and plain color.

Taking the feather of hope Glowstar had given her, and she'd never had the heart to give back, she fastened the blue feather to her right ear, giving it an experimental swing. Though she clearly did not look her best, the Senator looked better than she had since she'd stepped down, albeit nervous, unable to school her expression into the calm mischievousness that she once had been able to. All this emotion, and allowing herself to feel it, was new to her, and she was unsure if this was simply the culmination of her past, or if the Sun God had cursed her with feelings. Did it even matter?

She slipped from camp in silence, auburn fur catching winter light, the blizzard lines dancing to the beat of the breeze. She was uncertain how hard she'd have to look, but the fox-furred feline allowed herself to simply wander, trusting their deity for once, to lead her where she ought to be. And indeed, it wasn't long before she came upon Strikhedoniadalisay, carrying her prey for camp. "Glowstar." Foxbane's heart leapt into her throat, nearly choking off her voice, but she swallowed her worry. They had a lot, a lot, of things between them. It was time to make them right, and not only that, but now that she'd admitted it to herself, it was time to tell Strik about her feelings. She had to try, right? And at least if she was rejected, she knew where she stood, and could try to move on. Though she'd never been much good at that before.

Foxbane could feel her face warm despite the cold, and a hesitant sort of smile crossed her features. "I don't look half as good as you, and we both know it." She responded, which was true enough. Though she'd put some effort into today, she still rather did look a mess, and Glowstar, as always, was the epitome of beauty. It was only just now that Foxbane was really realizing how gorgeous she thought the she-cat was, and actually appreciated it, rather than thinking perhaps how she could have put her looks to work more for herself. The mere idea now sort of made her feel uncomfortable, which was a very clear sign of just how things had changed since their apocalypse.

"SunClan is doing well enough, Littlestar is a wonderful Priestess. I'm glad DayClan is doing well for the season. They deserve a break after all they've been put through, especially by myself." Her gaze drew to the snow as Strik's did so, hopefully it would last. "If you're worried about the snow, you can always stay with us for the day, I'm sure Burningstar would like it, well, Summersolstice now. She passed her initiation, you know. And if not, I'm happy to walk you back home, if you think your clan will allow me that far."

It was a strange thing, to hear Foxbane talk with apparent humility and regret, and certainly, wasn't the same attitude she usually held. She truly did seem to care, both about Glowstar, with her genuine compliment, and about that which she'd done.

Though they hadn't quite reached the Burial Grounds, where the snow would be melted and the humid air warm, Foxbane paused to look at Glowstar, her expression somewhat confused. "I thought you were tired of DayClan being terrorized." After all, hadn't the leader said, when she and Funk had shown up suddenly after the breakup with Deal, that they needed to start 'neme-seeing other people.' Foxbane had broken every rule Glowstar gave her, had killed friends and used her own relatives against her. Had killed kits and queens without a second thought, had been so self-absorbed that she allowed an apocalypse to start.

And now that it was all over, now that Foxbane had changed, and come to reflect on her actions, if only because she'd been a victim of manipulation herself, she now missed it? Now that she was trying to figure out exactly who she was, and what she stood for, had accepted that maybe she'd driven those around her, even Glowstar, away in a way that couldn't be repaired, now Glowstar wanted that same evil intent back. Foxbane honestly didn't get it.

Why couldn't Strik have told her earlier? They could have worked together, so much anger and heartache saved if they were both just honest from the beginning. How much wasted time, how much resentment had they let fester simply because they couldn't or wouldn't speak from the heart? Emotion flickered across the Senator's face, too fast to pick out one from the next, to pinpoint exactly what sort of feelings surged through her veins. She could feel the anger simmering beneath the surface, a small fire of familiar rage that would be oh so easy to take on, a new target to replace the diminished hatred she'd felt for Deal.

To counter Glowstar's own beliefs, Foxbane didn't believe in the black and white. She believed largely in grey. There was too much nuance in their lives, and the lives of those around them for her to truly see in such simple terms. Good things could be done for selfish reasons, and terrible things with the purest intentions, when one saw fit. In her own life, her happiest moments had been tainted by darkness, and the deepest ruts glimmered with specks of light. The former Priestess wasn't naive enough to think she was anywhere near the lighter end of this greyscale ideology. If there was any cat that could be labeled as the most evil of them all, it was she. She had at least three dozen murders under her paw. Eight leaders, Eternalstar included, two deputies, seven queens, one of which was her adopted daughter, eight kits, and twelve cats from various clans and groups, again, one of them being her own child. And those were just the relevant ones. That didn't count rogues, loners, kittypets she might have toyed with and killed, it didn't include those who died as a direct result of her actions, or on her orders, but not by her own paw. It didn't count all the trauma or abuse she'd inflicted, the lies, the manipulation. In that way, her reach was far, far more. Her legacy was of a terrifying sort, and little of her past would likely be remembered fondly.

But all that faded away the longer she looked at Green. She was cute when she blushed. No matter how much evil she had done, with the DayClan leader at her side, she truly had hope in her future. With Glowstar believing in her, she could do anything. The fox-pelted feline turned her nose to Strik's cheek and smiled into her fur, letting out a soft, breathy chuckle. "You've always been there, and I just never seemed to realized what I had right in front of me all along." She stated, pulling her face back a bit. "I don't deserve someone like you, Glowstar. But I'm happy you're here. I haven't been even slightly decent with it before, and it'll take some learning and effort, but from now on, I promise to be there for you too, when you need it."

And she meant it.